Participation

How to Participate

Participation

The RELIEF events are invitation only. Entities may be asked to attend in one of two capacities: Observer or Participant. Observers attend without a formal experimentation plan and generally are present to learn how the experiments work from other participants as they execute their formal experiments. Participants attend with a formal experimentation plan and are responsible for publishing their findings through a Quick Look Report as well as any Ad Hoc Experiments that they create during their time at RELIEF.

Generally, entities are invited by submitting a whitepaper. Applicants may submit a white paper about their technologies, which NPS and NDU will review and submit to a vote within the JIFX council of Science and Technology. If the applicant is voted upon and approved, it will generally be invited to be an observer the first time out to RELIEF. Exceptions can be made on a case-by-case basis. White papers may be submitted by first registering for the event via the NPS web site; NPS will send an email requesting the white paper to you.

Funding

RELIEF is a form of stone soup. The venue and planning activities are funded by the US Government, including the Department of Defense, U.S. Navy, Naval Postgraduate School, National Defense University, Department of Homeland Security; the event is also supported by the California National Guard. Participants and observers fund their own travel, shipping, equipment, and attendance.

Food and Beverage

The resources at Camp Roberts are modest and austere. There is no dining hall open to attendees. All participants, observers, and staff are responsible for their own food and beverages. Many tend to pool resources and bring coffee for the day, cartons of bottled water (to help their personnel remain hydrated), and the makings for sandwiches for lunch. If a sufficient number of people are attending a RELIEF event, a roach coach may provide simple food and drink on site.

Search this site:

Unofficial Site

This site supports the exchange of ideas within the community of thinker that participate in the RELIEF experiments at Camp Roberts. The official government RELIEF site can be found here. This site is not affiliated with the California National Guard, U.S. Navy, or Naval Postgraduate School.

About

Camp Roberts Humanitarian Experiments fosters increased interoperability between humanitarian technologies. It's formal name is RELIEF (Research and Experimentation for Local and International First-Responders). However, because our community convenes at Camp Roberts in the central coast of California, the community of researchers around the activity has made it common use to refer to the experiments by location rather than use of the official acronym. That said, our experimentation has no affiliation with the base beyond being a very, very grateful guest. Camp Roberts is convened through a partnership between the Naval Postgraduate School and the National Defense University's TIDES program (Transformative Innovation for Development and Emergency Support). This research project is coordinated at the Center for Technology and National Security Policy (CTNSP) at the National Defense University (NDU), which is part of the Department of Defense.

Keeping the Lawyers Happy

Ideas expressed, or products displayed, on the website, or in other TIDES or STAR-TIDES activities, should not be considered as endorsed by anyone else, Including the US government, nor should they be considered any form of commitment. We are still looking at the right license under which to print the material on this site, with the intention of keeping them as close to public domain as is possible.